Just out of curiosity I started a thread concerning Bad Rest Area caches in the GC.com forums to get an idea of what others have encountered and maybe some thoughts on them. Here is the link...http://forums.groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=140164&st=0&gopid=2383637&#entry2383637

J_Cyr

08-03-2006, 05:13 PM

I just read that forum. I agree, a cache like that should be taken away, replaced, or atleast disabled. Without reading the logs to that cache, others wouldn't know what to be aware of, but back to the point, why the hell is there a cache here... Maybe the owner did not know about these "activities" here, but if he did that's just wrong in so many counts.

J_Cyr

08-03-2006, 05:14 PM

Also... http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1578

Haffy

08-03-2006, 05:34 PM

Thats the one that is referred to Jordan....lol

tat

08-03-2006, 05:42 PM

Why do we need to use Geocaching as a nanny service? it is a cruel world out there with danger at every step of the way. You are far more likely to get killed driving to a cache than you are to be accosted by someone when you get there.

I have a rest area cache. The rest area is the first impression many tourists get when they enter Maine. There has been one incident reported to date (that I know of). I think it is important to have a cache welcoming people to Maine. I hope I'm no forced to remove it. Is one incident to much or do I need to wait for a second problem?

Bad stuff happens everywhere and it will no matter what Geocachers do.

Beach Comber

08-03-2006, 06:24 PM

I agree TAT.

Danger comes in many forms. I remember a number of times when a cache that I was doing may have been more dangerous than I cared for. A walk too far into the woods by myself, one more step takes me down an embankment that I almost didn't see, finding myself in a questionable location in a city, being followed or encountering people I don't know while caching, climbing along the edge of a wall that is adjacent to a dam, etc. There are many, many scenarios. Each person must decide what is acceptable for him/herself. Posting concerns in the cache log is a good way to help people be aware of the potential.

I am concerned that there is now a general thought that rest area caches should be reconsidered. I have done many great rest area caches. There are also a number of positive posts on that cache. I am not condoning what is happening there, but I think we have to be careful about how we present this as it relates to geocaching. There are two issues to me.........

1. Whether the cache owner should or shouldn't move or archive the cache. Effort has been made to address the issue through the right channels with gc.com and that is the path that should be continued.

2. Whether the non-caching activity that is taking place there should be reported and then working toward having it stop.

I am concerned that Geocaching Maine will look like it is on a cruisade to expose the activities of that rest site. I hope that should it be taken to the press, the police, the whoever/whatever that is done so without a blanket statement that this website and the associated geocaching community wants to stop what is going on. There are individual opinions involved here and if one has an issue, that person should speak for him/herself when addressing this.

We want a voice, but we have to be very careful how we put it out there. I am not saying a voice shouldn't be used, only that if it is that is done so carefully and is well thought out.

Haffy

08-03-2006, 07:04 PM

I think both Tat and Judy have made very good points. The only thing that I am saying is being a responsible cacher and cache owner I think we ought to set an example for others when placing caches. In this one instance even after many posts complaining of the events and incidents that took place at the site I think the owner should have at the very least written on the cache page that the area was not a very kid friendly area to be in. Even in the cache attributes is says it is kid friendly. Being a responsible cacher that I think I am I surely wouldnt have left this cache here if it was mine after all the complaints that it received and I'm sure that our members here would have done the same.

d’76

08-03-2006, 07:11 PM

Why do we need to use Geocaching as a nanny service? it is a cruel world out there with danger at every step of the way. You are far more likely to get killed driving to a cache than you are to be accosted by someone when you get there.

I have a rest area cache. The rest area is the first impression many tourists get when they enter Maine. There has been one incident reported to date (that I know of). I think it is important to have a cache welcoming people to Maine. I hope I'm no forced to remove it. Is one incident to much or do I need to wait for a second problem?

Bad stuff happens everywhere and it will no matter what Geocachers do.

I think I agree for the most part. I was recently shot at at a cache site. No really I was. All BS aside. I didnt think that the cache should be disabled or archived or anything like that just maybe be aware of your surrondings when out there. I can think of alot of dangerous caches out there. Maybe you get hit by a car while crossing the road in search of a puppy. I dont think we should get rid of rest area caches but maybe just the one in question.

Haffy

08-03-2006, 07:22 PM

I didn't see anywhere that all rest area caches should be eliminated,in just this ONE instance even after all the complaints nothing was done to make others aware of the potential goings on here.

d’76

08-03-2006, 07:26 PM

I didn't see anywhere that all rest area caches should be eliminated,in just this ONE instance even after all the complaints nothing was done to make others aware of the potential goings on here.

I would love to see this cache go. I will help anyway that I can.:)

Beach Comber

08-03-2006, 07:37 PM

I didn't see anywhere that all rest area caches should be eliminated,in just this ONE instance even after all the complaints nothing was done to make others aware of the potential goings on here.

........in plural context made me think it was referring to rest areas in general. Plus there have been a number of comments indicating that rest areas are well known for this type of activity. These two things led me to believe that, though this thread is primarily around that one cache, that the perception that all/most rest area caches are compromised locations.

Sorry for the incorrect inuendo on my part!

Haffy

08-03-2006, 08:08 PM

Actually I have never myself been to a Bad rest area cache yet. All the ones I have done have been very good ones with no abnormal activities going on that I knew of. Albeit I haven't been to the one in question though.

Hiram357

08-03-2006, 09:54 PM

Actually I have never myself been to a Bad rest area cache yet. All the ones I have done have been very good ones with no abnormal activities going on that I knew of. Albeit I haven't been to the one in question though.

I agree with you on that one haffy, the fitz cache is the only one that had me really freaked out. all the others along 95 and the rest area caches up 201 and 27 are all in pretty nice spots.

J_Cyr

08-03-2006, 11:01 PM

Thats the one that is referred to Jordan....lol

My bad -- I should read it a little closer next time :D

GeoMaine

08-04-2006, 01:09 AM

Before this gets too carried away, I'd like to make a suggestion? Everyone just needs take a moment, take a deep breath and remove their PERSONAL BELIEFS from their posts for this topic before submitting them. Going to ANY place for a geocache where people are unexpectedly and openly engaging in sexual acts are hopefully the ONLY issue people are having, not the sexual orientation of the people that meet here for it. A hotel window cache or a cache under the bed of a married couple should be no less disturbing.

To reference this cache as ‘bad’ and also to mention the cache owner by name is completely uncalled for. They haven’t signed into their account for two weeks now and have only found five caches. They hid this in the middle of May, probably way before any of this would have been obvious. They also could have hid it in April as well and waited to submit it to geocaching.com – why this ‘topic’ ever got posted to the groundspeak forums is beyond me. Now there are STUPID posts regarding mosquitoes of all things! A simple e-mail to gpsfun and it would have been over and done with, even though he was already well aware of the situation.

Here at geocachingmaine? Posting a simple ‘Hey, you might want to check out this cache listing before you go do it… just in case’ note and locking the topic on this site would have been the way to go.

I hope all of you are ready to stand behind TAT (no matter what!) if someone comes along and inadvertently does something similar as to what Haffy just did. I'm sure this geocacher is equally as blindsided as TAT would be right about now?

attroll

08-04-2006, 01:21 AM

Before this gets too carried away, I'd like to make a suggestion? Everyone just needs take a moment, take a deep breath and remove their PERSONAL BELIEFS from their posts for this topic before submitting them. Going to ANY place for a geocache where people are unexpectedly and openly engaging in sexual acts are hopefully the ONLY issue people are having, not the sexual orientation of the people that meet here for it. A hotel window cache or a cache under the bed of a married couple should be no more and no less disturbing.

To reference this cache as ‘bad’ and also to mention the cache owner by name is completely uncalled for. They haven’t signed into their account for two weeks now and have only found five caches. They hid this in the middle of May, probably way before any of this would have been obvious. They also could have hid it in April as well and waited to submit it to geocaching.com – why this ‘topic’ ever got posted to the groundspeak forums is beyond me. Now there are STUPID posts regarding mosquitoes of all things. A simple e-mail to gpsfun and it would have been over and done with, even though he was already well aware of the situation.

Here at geocachingmaine? Posting a simple ‘Hey, you might want to check out this cache listing before you go do it… just in case’ note and locking the topic on this site would have been the way to go.

I hope all of you are ready to stand behind TAT if someone comes along and inadvertently does something similar as to what Haffy did?

It looks like you missed all the discussion on the rest of the forums. You need to go back and read the thread called Appropiate Cache site? (http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1578). This will probably clear a lot up for you.

If you had read the other thread you would have read that the cache owner has been contacted and refused to remove the cache and that GPSFUN was contacted and has also written to the cache owner and gave them 10 days to do something.

Sorry to be so blunt. But I have no idea where you come off talking about a hotel window cache or a cache under the bed of a married couple. This has nothing to do with sexual preference.

J_Cyr

08-04-2006, 01:33 AM

Here at geocachingmaine? Posting a simple ‘Hey, you might want to check out this cache listing before you go do it… just in case’ note and locking the topic on this site would have been the way to go.

Like Attroll said, even if you check the cache listing, you can see people's comments and the owner has not made ANY attempt to disable the cache or archive it, or even hear out what people have o say in general, fact of the matter being, he set it there (his only cache) and now isn't going to take care of it anyway, even if it needed maintenance besides the fact, so the cache should be disabled anyway!

GeoMaine

08-04-2006, 02:22 AM

It looks like you missed all the discussion on the rest of the forums. You need to go back and read the thread called Appropiate Cache site? (http://www.geocachingmaine.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1578). This will probably clear a lot up for you.

If you had read the other thread you would have read that the cache owner has been contacted and refused to remove the cache and that GPSFUN was contacted and has also written to the cache owner and gave them 10 days to do something.

Sorry to be so blunt. But I have no idea where you come off talking about a hotel window cache or a cache under the bed of a married couple. This has nothing to do with sexual preference.

Rick, you probably should go through all of the posts and actually READ them (not just skim them) before you make a blanket statement like that? Not just the last page. ALL of them. I have and there are many examples.

Better yet, just delete both my posts, it's immediately obvious I'm not ever going to be welcome here with an opinion that isn't shared by the masses.

BTW: Even using the word 'preference' is showing your bias against gay and lesbian couples. To suggest that they somehow 'chose' their sexual orientation is no different than someone suggesting that you 'chose' to be 'straight'.

d’76

08-04-2006, 06:07 AM

Rick, you probably should go through all of the posts and actually READ them (not just skim them) before you make a blanket statement like that? Not just the last page. ALL of them. I have and there are many examples.

Better yet, just delete both my posts, it's immediately obvious I'm not ever going to be welcome here with an opinion that isn't shared by the masses.

BTW: Even using the word 'preference' is showing your bias against gay and lesbian couples. To suggest that they somehow 'chose' their sexual orientation is no different than someone suggesting that you 'chose' to be 'straight'.

UHGGGG. We

d’76

08-04-2006, 06:23 AM

UHGGGG. We

I dont like this new no edit stuff.

UHHHHGGGGG we where doing just fine before:(

d’76

08-04-2006, 06:26 AM

Rick, you probably should go through all of the posts and actually READ them (not just skim them) before you make a blanket statement like that? Not just the last page. ALL of them. I have and there are many examples.

Better yet, just delete both my posts, it's immediately obvious I'm not ever going to be welcome here with an opinion that isn't shared by the masses.

BTW: Even using the word 'preference' is showing your bias against gay and lesbian couples. To suggest that they somehow 'chose' their sexual orientation is no different than someone suggesting that you 'chose' to be 'straight'.